Need some pictures of 60's era small blocks

[NW Task Force]

I have equipped my 57' with a 1966 Chevelle 283 that I purchased a few years back. The 283 is complete with all the assessories, however, external parts were taken off upon purchase. I am trying to understand/visualize how the power steering pump/brackets are mounted in conjunction with the driver side mounted alternator. I really like the look of 50's & 60's small blocks with all the correct brackets, etc. Does anyone have any detailed pics of how these items are mounted? The funky looking mounting flange attached to the power steering pump in the pic is actually a bracket that hooks to the alternator as well. Currently the power steering pump is slanted at such an abrupt angle that I can not remove the darn cap! Maybe a longer belt to acheive proper angle? I have googled pics on the net for similiar setups, but often the pics are not close enough to see how things are attached. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[mr48chev]

That's not going to work with that subframe. The two bolts on the pump bracket mount to the exhaust manifold which will put the pump out in the middle of the steering box. That power steering cap wants to sit straight up.
You kind of skizzled yourself wanting to go with the 283 rather than a later engine with a long water pump that would make it a whole lot easier to fit things.

The simple way out but maybe not the most desirable would be to swap to a manual steering box and that may be your only recourse with that particular engine.

[NW Task Force]

Hhhmmm, I am going to disconnect the drive belt from the power steering pump and check pivoting clearances. I really am dead set on running my vintage 283 with 60's era bracketry. I do know that I will have to fab some kind of bracket from the pump to the headers I am going to run. Making brackets isn't a big deal to me. (plenty of scrap hanging around and a welder) My biggest concern is clearance between the power steering pump belt and alternator belt. I just wish I had a picture to see how it is ran from the factory.

[1project2many]

As stated, the PS pump should be rotated away from the water pump more. You want to keep the cap level if possible to prevent heated and expanding PS fluid from spilling out the top of the reservoir. Or you can switch to a remote mounted reservoir as used in larger trucks and vans.

[NW Task Force]

Originally Posted by 1project2many

As stated, the PS pump should be rotated away from the water pump more. You want to keep the cap level if possible to prevent heated and expanding PS fluid from spilling out the top of the reservoir. Or you can switch to a remote mounted reservoir as used in larger trucks and vans.

Yeah, I am going to pivot the pump back over to level out the cap and see what dimensions I have on the side. Its a real bummer to find very little pictures available online that show 1960's era power steering pumps and short water pump setups. I think the world has gone to billet aluminum brackets and newer model pumps. Ideally, I'd like to see a fully restored Chevelle or something with all of this equipment mounted on a factory 283/327. The items shown in my picture did come with that engine, which was in a 1966 Chevelle.

[NW Task Force]

I ended up pivoting the pump over to the side to see what kind of room I have with the subframe and ps lines. Looks like I do have clearance, but not exactly a bunch of extra room. I'm curious about maybe buying an aftermarket ps bracket that mounts the unit lower and closer to the crank.

Here are some pics I shot with the PS pump moved over and the alternator roughly mounted on the alt mount bracket.

[NW Task Force]

Perhaps I can go "compact" and buy some brackets that move the PS pump closer to the crank and also have a self contained adjuster. I found some brackets online that look good for what I am trying to achieve and fit short water pump setups. Only question I have is whether or not the early vs. later style saginaw PS pumps have the same mounting holes. Here's some ideas I found so far.............

[OrrieG]

Here are two scans out of my 64 Chevelle FAM, one with ps only, one with ps and ac. Note the ac requires a different pulley set. your engine should have a short water pump. The pulley sets for short and long water pumps are different MATCHED diameters. If they are not matched the grooves do not line up and the pulleys hit each other. I found this out the hard way when looking for a 3 groove pulley for mine. I will also post a pic of my set up, it is on a 350 with long water pump but I made/modified both my brackets to get the stuff away from the valve covers without using the 350 head bracket bolt locations. If you want more detail look around July 2011 in my build thread.

[NW Task Force]

OrrieG,

Thanks for the good pictures. My 283 has the original short water pump and the crank is a 2 grove pulley. I really need to make sure my belt geometry is not going to be way off if I choose to buy aftermarket brackets or fab my own.

[1project2many]

Yes, it seems stainless, billet, and shiny are the way to go today.

The pumps we swap out in out 2002 G vans seem to have very similar dimensions to the old parts in terms of mounting hardware. The reservoir has a different shape and the mounting studs are metric, though.

Are your pictures misleading about the amount of distance between box and pump? Using the old Saginaw pump, if you mount the inboard pump support bracket to the water pump you can rotate the pump clockwise while maintaining or even increasing clearance between box and reservoir. You might have to consider a remote reservoir here, too due to clearance issues with the belt. A good tubing bender and some 3/8" dia trans cooler hose would allow you to route that return line closer to the pressure hose eliminating the X where they cross and moving it out from under the pump.

There is a smaller GM car box called the 605 which might help you gain some clearance if it comes down to it.

You can use a laser level to check pulley alignment. If the level cen be centered in the groove of a pulley, it should put a spot on the center of other pulleys in the same plane.

[mr48chev]

You are going to have to get your exhaust manifold on there and bolt things up the way they go to see where you are at on this. If you have a matching set of brackets you should be good on belt clearance as long as it clears the steering box and the control arm. From seeing the front shot you posted later it looks like the engine sets a bit higher than I thought it did at first.

[_Ogre]

look at post 273 in my build for a ps bracket that i made for truk
you could easily modify it to fit any pump configuration

[NW Task Force]

I think I have found a solution to my alternator bracket issue. I am planning on running aftermarket headers on my 283. I also want to run the stock upper alternator bracket. I found an example pic online (shown below) that uses an aftermarket bracket to attach a stock driver's side alternator setup to an engine equipped with headers. As for the power steering pump....... I am using the stock bracket for the lower pivot point, but need a solution for an independent adjustment/tensioning slot that doesn't require cylinder head or exhaust manifold attachment and still maintain belt geometry. This is becoming tricky, but I want to make it work.

[NW Task Force]

I think I found exactly what I need to accomplish setup between the alternator & power steering on my 1960's era 283. Rough example, but this is the ticket.

[NW Task Force]

I finally got it all figured out on my pulley/alternator/power steering arrangement. I really wanted to keep the vintage 60's belt/pulley/bracket arrangement. I went down and purchased an aftermarket alternator bracket that adapts a short water pump/driver's side alternator while using headers. I ended up welding the factory power steering adjustment bracket to the new chrome bracket and lined everything up that way. Looks like I have plenty of clearance and belt adjustment! The pulleys are lined up pretty straight too. Now all I need to do is measure for belts. How are you folks measuring for belts? (valley of groove or crown of groove?)

[Rude Dude]

I usaully measure for belt by moving the adjustment in first then using a white cotton rope that fits in the groove nice and tight and marking it with a felt marker to the correct size, cut to fit then tape together run to the parts house and look through there stock and match it up.

[Mac the Yankee]

X2- that's a great way to measure for belts!

[hyatt]

The ps bracket you have is for 64-68 chevelle Find one from a impala and it is about 5 inches closer to the motor

[NW Task Force]

Originally Posted by Rude Dude

I usaully measure for belt by moving the adjustment in first then using a white cotton rope that fits in the groove nice and tight and marking it with a felt marker to the correct size, cut to fit then tape together run to the parts house and look through there stock and match it up.

Thanks so much! I will go to the hardware store and have some cotton rope cut for belt measuring. Seems like a good way to go. The fun part will be looking through belts and finding one that matches up.

[Mac the Yankee]

get something that won't stretch- that'll help you be more accurate when trying to find a belt.